Our flight from Vientiane, despite leaving a whole minute late, was another blessedly short and uneventful one, and we soon found ourselves in Hanoi airport.

We were able to pass through security in the relatively quickly as we already had our visas in place after our eventful application in Bangkok. At least something good came of the whole affair.

We had booked a hotel for the night in advance from Vientiane, and thought to avoid any hassle that we'd book an airport transfer as well. Thus, we were greeted by an enthusiastic young chap once we got into the arrivals hall, who quickly had us in his people carrier for one of the most extreme vehicle rides of our life.

To get into Hanoi, our driver propelled us at breakneck speed down the motorway, driving right up the tail of cars in front until they'd move over to let us pass, swerving around motorbikes and cars that wouldn't pass, and even the odd cow sitting in the middle of the carriageway. This was our introduction to the traffic system in Vietnam and proved to be a great illustration of how most people drove.

After winding through innumerable streets of Hanoi's old town, through the river of motorbikes flowing in every direction at once, thankfully at a slightly lower speed than on the motorway, our driver finally dropped us at our hotel and we got out, our adrenalin still pumping after the journey.

We were greeted at the hotel by the lovely Ms Hang who gave us some water and helped us with the check in process before showing us to our room, unfortunately up 5 flights of stairs. The room was great however, with a view over the rooftops of Hanoi's old town, and a big bed, air conditioning and cable TV.

Once we had dumped our bags we went downstairs and asked Ms Hang for a recommendation of somewhere cheap to eat nearby. She directed us to a nearby pho eatery, even walking us the short distance up the street and describing the succinct menu (all in Vietnamese) to us.

Since Lucy didn't feel like eating, I used my newfound knowledge to order one bowl of pho bo (beef noodle soup) with a combination of sliced well-done brisket and rare steak added into the tasty hot broth. Despite the unassuming look of the place, basically a couple of tables in a hole in the wall with bubbling pots of stuff outside on the street, the pho was incredible and the perfect pick-me-up after our travels.

Full and satisfied, we returned to the hotel and checked out some stuff on the hotel's wifi connection before crashing out for the night.

The next morning, Lucy wasn't feeling too well again so I went downstairs on my own to grab the free breakfast provided by the hotel. Although served in the small lobby, the breakfast was really tasty, comprising of a big baguette with butter and jam and some black Vietnamese coffee. I tried to learn some basic Vietnamese phrases and got some advice and pointers for what to see in the city from the other, equally helpful and friendly lady on duty at the reception desk then went upstairs to see how Lucy was doing.

Since she was feeling up to it, we headed out of the hotel to take a walk around the city. We first made our way through the close-knit, crowded streets of the old town, with their attractive french colonial shop buildings and old trees growing out of and over the roadway. Unfortunately the pavements in the old town were so packed with parked motorbikes, overspill from shopfronts and seats for cafes and restaurants that we had to walk in the roadway most of the time, constantly aware of the motorbikes zipping all over the place around us.

The lack of cars in the city was immediately apparent, and something that was common throughout Vietnam. Due to high taxes on car imports motorbikes are far more affordable and easier to get around on, so pretty much everyone has one and uses them in place of cars, vans, and even minibuses, with some innovative uses of space.

Eventually we made our way out of the bustling warren of the old town to the lake in the centre of town. We followed the pavement around the attractive lake, ringed by the city buildings on all sides, then across to a temple on and island in the lake. The temple was fairly nice but quite small and nothing that special. However, there was some kind of cultural show on out the back of the temple on a patio overlooking the lake, and we watched some tradional dances accompanied by live music here for a while, particularly taken by the colourful costumes of the dancers.

From there we continued around the lake, checking out a statue of a previous king overlooking the lake at the head of a massive plaza, before stopping at an ice cream cafe after rounding the lower end of the lake. Unfortunately the sundaes we ordered weren't quite as tasty as the pictures in the menu had us believe, but we still enjoyed a break from the heat in the air conditioned cafe, before continuing our exploration.

From the lake we headed into town past a large cathedral, sadly shut at the time we visited, but still impressive to see from the outside if a little out of place. It made a nice change to see a very European style of church after all the Buddhist temples, and the grimy off-white colour of the building only added to its character.

From the cathedral we continued through the busy streets, dodging motorbikes and taking our lives in our hands every time we tried to cross the road until we eventually reached a large walled enclosure which we deduced to be the Temple of Literature, an ancient university. We had to circimnavigate the entire complex until we found the entrance, then spent the next while exploring the compound.

Inside, we found some beautiful peaceful grounds with pathways leading through ornate gateways into successive squares surrounded by old red and black wooden buildings with a very traditional oriental look. Under some covered areas we discovered scores of large stone tablets or stelae borne on the backs of carved stone turtles, inscribed with the names of former graduates of the university from hundreds of years ago.

At the end of the compound there was an impressive two storey wooden building which was part museum, part gift shop and part temple. The carved beams and staircases inside this building were great, and we enjoyed climbing to the upper level to check out the ornate and lavishly adorned statues of the three formers kings credited with starting the university, as well as the view over the compound from the balcony.

After looking around the Temple of Literature for a while we left and stopped off for another rest, this time in the nearby KOTO (Know One Teach One) cafe. This fancy cafe was run by an NGO and trained underprivileged children in the service trade, giving them a launch pad into the hotel and service industry. We gladly took refuge in the air conditioned cool of the cafe for some fruit juice, and were blown away by the manners and skills of the staff, which seemed testament to the work of the cafe.

While we were in the cafe, torrential rain began pounding down outside and, although we waited for a while to see if it would pass, eventually we had to move on so took our chances and braved the downpour. We found the rain wasn't as heavy as it had looked from inside, and carried on, getting a little damp, to explore more of the city.

Our next stop was at the statue of Lenin, where we fell prey to the ruse of two local women who tried to get us to carry their baskets-on-a-stick on our shoulders and wear their conical hats. Since they managed to get the stuff on us, we got a picture taken then listened to them demand money for the privilege. Eventually parting with a small amount of dong, we went on our way a little bit miffed but a little bit wiser.

From the statue we walked past a big tower then up towards the citadel which according to our map took up a massive area of the centre of town. We eventually found our way across a massive car park area into the old part of the citadel which was almost completely deserted apart from us. There was a large fortress-like building as well as a group of smart colonial buildings painted yellow with elegant arched walkways along their lower levels, lined with pillars.

We wandered around this quiet but cool area for a while, taking refuge for a time under a porch to escape another massive downpour, before spending quite a long time trying to find a way out of the compound. Eventually we were pleased to find a small gate near the north end of the citadel area, just as we were about to give up and start the long trek back to the south entrance where we had come in.

Once we had escaped from the citadel, we headed back to the old town and once more wound our way through the craziness of its streets until we got back to our hotel.

We chilled out at the hotel for a bit before heading out for some food. Since Lucy hadn't eaten it the night before, she was keen to try pho bo so we made a beeline for a place a few streets away which had some good recommendations. When we got there it was packed with locals, always a good sign in our experience, but we managed to grab a couple of seats and soon had two bowls of steaming beef noodle soup in front of us, along with a plate of what I can only describe as Yorkshire pudding sticks, which made a fantastic addition to the soup and were great for dunking.

After slurping our way through our pho, we walked back to the hotel, showered, and relaxed for the evening in the air conditioned cool after a hot day walking around. We watched some movies on TV and read a bit before dropping off to sleep.

The next day we got up and packed our bags, since we had to move to the other hotel owned by the same people as our place. This was due to planned construction works which would be taking place during the night that night, the only time when the cement mixers and other large plant could get in through the crowded streets of the old town. We were happy to move however, as the other hotel was fancier but we would get our room at the same price we had been paying.

After breakfast we discussed some options with the ladies at the hotel and ended up booking our ownward transport for the following day, before jumping in our free taxi to the new hotel a few streets away, where we dropped off our bags in our even nicer room.

From our hotel we got a taxi to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex. The taxi dropped us off at the end of a huge wide walkway running in front of a monolithic stone structure, the actual mausoleum. We knew that Ho Chi Minh's embalmed remains were at present not available for public viewing, as they are for most of the year, but we still took a walk in the blazing sunshine up the wide avenue in front of the building for a look at it. The size of the building and the scale of the area around it, not to mention the fact that his name and picture were everywhere, showed the fanatical loyalty the Vietnamese had to their former revolutionary leader.

From the mausoleum we walked around some more of the complex, checking out the rather uninteresting one-pillar pagoda, before making our way to the huge soviet style behemoth that housed the Ho Chi Minh memorial museum.

We got into the museum not long before it closed, and spent the next half hour walking through its exhibits. We hadn't been completely clued up on Vietnam's history or Ho Chi Minh's role before coming to the country, and unfortunately didn't learn much more in the museum. Whilst it was packed with exhibits of historical memorabilia, it lacked any information expressing exactly what Ho Chi Minh did or his role in the country's history. It was clearly designed for people already familiar with him, but to us just seemed rather odd. There were however some really imaginative displays, some of which looked like set pieces from the dream sequences in Twin Peaks and others like something from Dr. Evil's lair.

After leaving the musuem, we walked back up past the mausoleum along the exposed avenue in the baking sunshine, then past the presidential palace, a fenced off yellow colonial building of impressive proportions. From there we found our way into the nearby botanic gardens, which proved to be an incredibly odd place.

The lovely park with its lakes and old growth trees was completely packed with couples dressed up in their wedding outfits, accompanied by photographers snapping them in all sorts of poses. Everywhere we looked were couples in shiny dresses and tuxedos, posing in front of ponds or beside pagodas, and as we walked through the park we were far more interested in them than any of our surroundings. We couldn't help but think they'd all have exactly the same wedding albums, and probably with about 5 or 6 other wedding couples in the background of each photo. we couldn't figure out if they were taking the photos before or after their weddings, or if they were even getting married at all. Perhaps the whole thing was a big shoot for a wedding clothing catalogue. Completely bemused, we completed a circuit of the wedding park before leaving and making for the nearby lake.

When we reached the lake, to the north of the botanic gardens, we found it less than attractive with a foot-deep rim of dead fish and rubbish floating around its edges. We walked briskly along the path beside it, crossing a road to another area of water between us and some residential high rises across the water. We had heard this particular street was good for food so we took a seat at a plastic table beside the lake and ordered some pho cuon, which we had been recommended.

This turned out to be some fresh rice paper rolls filled with fresh herbs and beef or pork, which were alright but nothing special. We washed them down with some weak local beer over ice, then headed back towards our hotel, taking a similar route through the old town as we had the day before on our way back from the citadel.

Back at the hotel we had a shower and relaxed in our sanctuary from the heat outside, turning on the TV just in time to catch Scotland's game in the rugby world cup against Argentina. We watched the game, a bit disappointed with the outcome, then headed out of the hotel and back around the lake nearby to check out the famous water puppet theatre there.

We managed to get some tickets for a show later in the evening, so had some time to kill. We walked through some of the nearby streets of the old town which we hadn't explored, getting used to the crazy motorbike traffic and lack of pavement, before deciding to get something to eat.

This time we opted to try some bun cha, another local delicacy which we had heard the name of, but weren't exactly sure the nature of. We entered a place which had been recommended to us, and were seated upstairs before having our table laden with food, without even a glance at a menu. Assuming there was only one choice, we watched as the waitress sat down a mountainous plate of fresh herbs, followed by a plate of cold rice noodles, then gave each of us a bowl of clear broth filled with chunks of burger-like meat and fatty strips of what looked like pork, and finally a plate of spring rolls.

With no idea what to do, we just got stuck into the food, finding it delicious but far too much after our late lunch earlier in the day. Whilst the fatty strips of pork weren't all that appetising, the little burger bits were, and the broth they came in was full of flavour, only improved through the addition of the herbs and accompanied by the noodles. The spring rolls provided another delicious but probably unnecessary accompaniment.

After filling up as much as we could on the bun cha, we decided to go for a drink before the theatre, so walked back down towards the lake. Here we noticed a few rooftop bars overlooking the lake, so we found our way up to the one on the top floor and ordered a beer which we drank as we watched the sun go down over the city. After amusing ourselves watching the throng of motorbikes in the busy junction below the bar for a while, it was time to head down and walk to the water puppet theatre, just along the street.

Once inside we were treated to a show unlike any we had seen before. First, some musicians played some excellent local music on traditional instruments, before the puppet show proper began. With all the action taking place in a pool of water on the stage below us, we watched in amazement as crazy episodes played out, all acted out through puppets splashing around in the water operated by unseen puppeteers behind a screen at the back of the stage. Originating as an entertainment form developed by workers in the rice paddies of Vietnam, the stories dealt with traditional subjects such as religious stories or depictions of harvests or crazy water buffalo frolicking in the paddies. Although these episodes were all entertaining in their own way, and accompanied by great music, the highlight of the show came at the end when a paper dragon painted in UV sensitive paint flew around the stage, lit to make it look as if it was flying free.

After the show, which I think I enjoyed more than Lucy who left looking utterly bemused, we walked up a nearby street which had been set up with a bustling night market. After walking partway up the row of stalls with the usual t-shirts and tourist tat, we decided we weren't much in the mood for another market, so made our way back to the hotel for another shower before turning on the TV again. This time we arrived just in time to watch The Hangover, which we both watched with relish despite having seen it numerous times before. After the movie we got off to sleep in preparation for moving on the next day.